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Last Days in Montreal
Published: July 21st 2011North America » Canada » Quebec » Montréal » Old Montréal
July 21st 2011
If you’ve been watching the news, you may have seen that Canada and the Midwestern U.S. are experiencing a “heat dome.” “Heat dome” seems a euphemism for “hell on earth.” It is miserable, and apparently the worst is yet to come. I hate to complain, especially while on vacation, but the humidity and heat is taking its toll. Ain’t nobody happy. Fortunately, we were able to spend the entire day in air-conditioned bliss at the Montréal Museum of Science. The Indiana Jones exhibit currently on display combines movie memorabilia (props, costumes, etc.) along with the science of archeology. Each visitor gets a headset with an interactive device. As you make your way through the exhibit you enter numbers based on what you are viewing and the device provides sound and/or video clips. You are also taking ... read more
About some bikes and a basilica
Published: July 19th 2011North America » Canada » Quebec » Montréal » Old Montréal
July 18th 2011
Sunday: Since we got Arden situated on her bike, we’ve been riding along the canal each day. Last night we rode to the Vieux Port (Old Port) and back, which is about five miles round-trip. This afternoon we rode about the same distance but incorporated some streets downtown to make it to the Planetarium de Montréal. Shows are offered in English or French, so you have to schedule your trip for the language you prefer. Inside is a display of designs submitted by dozens of architects for the new planetarium. The building we visited today is slated to close in November; the new and improved building (which seems to be a complete replacement of the current structure) will open sometime in 2013. It was really neat to see all the designs, and I would imagine the ... read more
July 15th 2011
We had a difficult day yesterday and an inauspicious start to our time here in Montréal, but fortunately everything turned out fine. Our last evening out in Québec City, Wednesday night, was spent at the Moulin à Images, or Image Mill. This is a pretty slick multimedia 3-D slideshow. What makes it special is that the slides are projected onto the massive grain silos north of downtown – 600 meters wide and 30 meters tall, and the spectators are facing the silos from across the Bassin Louise, a marina. The slideshow reveals the history of Québec from before European explorers to the present day. Like the Cirque du Soleil, it’s free. You just show up with your blanket and find a place to sit, and there are speakers along the marina that play the accompanying music. ... read more
July 12th 2011
I ended my last blog with the comment, “This is Canada…” Really, though, that’s not quite accurate. This is Québec, more than it is Canada. You don’t see the Canadian flag nearly as much as you’d expect. All the government buildings downtown fly the Québec province flag, or the flag for the City of Québec (which is a very cool flag with a ship on it – same emblem as in the photo), and the Canadian flag is notably absent. The Canadian national flag is seen on what I guess I’d call federal buildings, but not on provincial or city government ones. Kind of like seeing your state’s flag flying without the Stars and Stripes over the state capitol building, or on school flagpoles. There is definitely a disconnect between Québec and the rest of Canada, ... read more
July 11th 2011
In spite of the forecast calling for rain today, we decided to head down the St. Lawrence to the beautiful Chute Montmorency. Chute is French for fall (think: parachute), and these falls are higher than Niagara (the Quebecois won't let you not notice that...) but not as wide. The falls are on the Montmorency River, probably about a mile before it flows into the St. Lawrence. It is a lovely waterfall, and we climbed the stairs to the top, walked across the bridge that spans the top of the fall, and had a nice lunch at the Manoir Montmorency. I think our collective opinion was that while this waterfall was quite huge, it wasn't nearly as impressive as some we've seen in Yosemite. It was definitely worth visiting, and the mist at the bottom was so ... read more
July 10th 2011
After a prolonged and protracted journey, we arrived in Québec City late yesterday afternoon. Two uneventful flights brought us to Washington, DC, where we learned that the third leg of our cross-country travel had been cancelled. Many thanks to modern technology, though, we were able to reschedule our flight for the following day, make a hotel reservation, notify our hosts in Québec City, and change our rental car arrangements, all while we stood waiting in line. It was pretty sweet to be able to get out of line and go on our way, without so much as a wave to the grumpy United Airlines workers. And so we were forced to spend one night in Reston, Virginia, where the girls logged a new state and saw their first-ever fireflies, and we all decided that we should ... read more
July 1st 2010
Haleakala is “house of the sun” - the volcanic crater that dominates eastern Maui. The sun’s power is well evidenced by the burns she bestowed on us while we hiked an awesome 12.5 miles down into this crater. Sunscreen and hats cannot match the power of the sun at 8-9000 feet. We had this enormous place pretty much to ourselves - over the course of the entire hike we saw less than twenty people, and most of them were on the way out. (To call it a crater a misnomer as it is actually an unbelievably huge basin eroded by wind and water over the millennia. But since ‘crater’ appears to be the popular term, we’ll go along with it…). It looks like Mars. It’s so huge that you can imagine the possibility of NASA setting ... read more
June 30th 2010
Yesterday, with Cathleen’s parents, we drove the road to Hana. It ended up a twelve-hour day of driving, hiking, and eating - a little something to please everyone. The drive starts out of Pa’ia, a cute little town on the north coast. At first the vegetation is exactly what comes to your mind when you think of Hawai’i: lush green grass, colorful tropical plants, coconut palms, and flowers. Gradually the road narrows and becomes curvy - and stays that way for the next sixty miles. It’s very slow going, but we understood that this was what was advertised, so we were prepared for it. As we drove, the vegetation became more and more lush, thicker, and so many shades of green. The trees were enormous and seemed to create more real estate for other plants to ... read more
June 27th 2010
Everything was perfect for the wedding last night - just before the bride and her dad walked out it drizzled for just a few minutes - long enough to cool everything down. It was a small and simple ceremony, and everyone was happy and relaxed. The reception was low key with delicious hors d’oeurves and all the mai tais we could ever want. This morning we took a boat out to Molokini to snorkel at the reef there. There was quite a variety of different fish, plus a moray eel and an octopus. On the way back to shore, we stopped briefly at another reef and saw a dozen or so sea turtles surface for air. It really is amazing how colorful and vibrant the world under the surface of the ocean actually is - so ... read more
June 26th 2010
Lovely beach in spite of its unfortunate name. We went snorkeling today. After our five-minute snorkel meditation to gauge the scene, as recommended by Snorkel Bob, we set out, slowly figuring out this activity. Right away we saw quite a few different fish. As we swam out further, I noticed a sea turtle below us, which swam up for air right in front of us. It was close enough to touch but we resisted the urge. It stayed on the surface, just feet away, gulping air again and again until he dove down, down, down. We saw several more turtles, some resting on the sea floor. We were lucky enough to see one more close up. Such serene creatures. Sunset wedding tonight on Ka’anapali Beach on the west coast. ... read more
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